The NMU track team will look to improve on last year’s record-setting performance as they kick off their indoor season this Friday in the Saginaw Valley State University Invitational.
The team is looking to improve on last year’s season in which NMU broke 17 individual NMU records in the indoor and outdoor seasons.
The team finished in seventh and eighth place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) indoor and outdoor meets, respectively.
“I expect quite a few new records this year,” head coach Tom Barnes said. “We had a lot of people who returned to the team this year who were very close to breaking records.”
One athlete who seems poised to break records is sophomore Krista Squiers. Last season Squiers set school records for the weight throw, hammer throw, and indoor shot put. She finished the season about a foot short of the javelin toss record.
“I want to beat out my best from last year, but I would rather have the team beat out other teams and succeed first,” Squiers said. “When I do better the team does better, so that puts me in a pretty good position”
In addition to Squiers, the ‘Cats will return key contributors Danielle St. Onge, Erin Van Enkvort and Stephanie Boyer. St. Onge set NMU records in the 55 meter, 60 meter, and 100 meter dashes along with the indoor and outdoor long jump and triple jump. Boyer set team records in the indoor and outdoor 200 meter and 400 meter dashes, while Van Enkvort set the record for the 400 meter hurdles.
Barnes said the ‘Cats will need to rely on the experience of the upperclassmen to lead the team throughout the season. NMU’s track team started in the 2003-2004 season, making this the first year that the team will have fifth-year seniors competing on it.
The first year, the NMU track team did not compete in an indoor season, meaning that the freshmen from that year have one year of eligibility left.
“For leadership it really helps to have fourth and fifth year seniors,” Barnes said. “The training effect over the last couple of years is cumulative; they are able to build on the last couple years. They can do a lot more specialized exercises now than a first year athlete can.”
Barnes said another advantage of having a group of seniors that makes this team special is the maturity that the team has shown.
“The main thing I can say about this team is they are all very mature and responsible,” Barnes said. “They take care of making sure they are at practice, and telling me if they can’t make it. We’ve also had one of the highest team GPAs the last few years, so that tells me that they are showing maturity in the classroom as well.”
The team will be led by a core group of six seniors. The fifth-year seniors on the team are in a unique position in that they have been with the team since the inaugural season in 2003, Barnes said.
“It’s been fun watching the team grow since when it started. We originally had only around 20 girls on the team the first year, and now we’re much bigger than that,” senior Stephanie Boyer said.
The NMU track team currently has 41 members.
Barnes said the team is excited to begin competing this week when they travel to University City, Mich. to take part in the SVSU Invitational.
He said the team should get a feel for how they measure up to the competition this season.
“This next meet coming up is a good meet. There is going to be real good competition at it, the University of South Florida is bringing their team up, and I know Ferris State will be there,” Barnes said.
The team begins the outdoor season on April 5.
“I’m excited to see what we do this year,” Boyer said.
